Brenda Lovcik is senior vice president and CFO of Trex, a manufacturer of wood-alternative composite decking, railing, and other outdoor items made from recycled materials. Headquartered in Winchester, Virginia, Trex is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Global Finance: You have been the financial head of Trex for almost a year now. What has been the biggest challenge so far?
Brenda Lovcik: It has been an honor to work for the world’s largest manufacturer of high-performance, low-maintenance, eco-friendly wood-alternative decking and railing, with more than 30 years of product experience. Like most CFOs, I have had a relentless focus on delivering profitable growth and adding value across the business. To do that, I have spent the last year learning a new industry while drawing from 30-plus years of manufacturing experience in other industries.
GF: Has the CFO role become more complex and demanding over the last year? If so, how?
Lovcik: The role of the CFO has been evolving not just over the last year, but over the last couple of years. In 2024, CFOs need to have an increasingly holistic grasp of the entire business, leveraging that perspective to create value and provide insight.
In the past, the CFO led a team that prepared information on financial results and set limits on spending. Now, management and other stakeholders are turning to CFOs to be business partners who can add value by providing greater insight on emerging trends and knowing how best to use financial reporting data in decision-making.
GF: How do these changes affect your day-to-day work?
Lovcik: No two days are the same. We are living in a period of rapid change where innovation and technology are advancing at exponential speed and we have to deal with uncertainties like cybersecurity, data privacy, shareholder activism, international conflicts, and a dynamic political environment. The trick is to maintain core capabilities while advancing.
GF: What takes up most of your energy and time?
Lovcik: A large portion of my time is devoted to digital transformation: that is, accelerating digital transformation to drive efficiencies and productivity. One major theme is enabling data-informed decision-making in ways that are more advanced than what many organizations could achieve even a few years ago.
For Trex, one example is that investments in digital transformation are allowing the company to bring together complex datasets that enable us to generate simplified views that span the value chain. This becomes even more interesting when it means a company is able to correlate datasets that have historically been somewhat independent, e.g., for forecasting purposes.
While this follows the trend of “big data” that we’ve been hearing market leaders talk about for the past 10 to 15 years, there’s a higher degree of tech savvy required to enable modern solutions today: e.g., understanding how systems configurations and investments in integration, network, and infrastructure impact the data available to the company.
GF: What is your view on environmental, social, and governance policy, and what is your level of commitment?
Lovcik: I am proud to work for a company like Trex, where sustainability is part of our DNA. Approximately 95% of our decking and up to 40% of our railing is recycled material. We continue to invest in programs like NexTrex and our annual recycling challenge. These programs generate awareness around recycling opportunities for polyethylene plastic film and divert millions of pounds of this film from landfills. We also continue to look for investment opportunities that support our business and drive sustainability.
GF: What advice would you give to a young professional aspiring to become a CFO?
Lovcik: Find a business you are passionate about and surround yourself with people who will challenge you and make you better every day.
